All Lewis entries for Kiltoghert

CARRICK-on-SHANNON

CARRICK-on-SHANNON, a market and post-town, (formerly a parliamentary borough), partly in the parish of KILLUKEN, barony of BOYLE, county of ROSCOMMON, but chiefly in the parish of KILTOGHART, barony and county of LEITRIM, and in the province of CON NAUGHT, 27 miles (S. E. by S.) from Sligo, and 77 (W. N. W) from Dublin; containing 1870 inhabitants. This town is situated on the mail coach road from Dublin to Sligo, and on the north-eastern bank of the Shannon, over which is a bridge to a small suburb in the county of Roscommon, the tolls of which were granted, in 1684, to Sir George St. George, on condition of his keeping it in repair: the present structure, consisting of eleven arches, was built in 1718. It contains 321 houses, and is badly paved and not lighted. A small trade is carried on in coarse linen, druggets, frieze, and coarse flannel; and it is the chief market for grain and provisions in Leitrim, but is principally supplied from Roscommon. Great quantities of butter are sent to the Dublin and Newry markets, and a considerable quantity of yarn is sold. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on Jan. 18th, March 20th, May 12th, June 6th, Aug. 11th, Sept. 14th, Oct. 22nd, Nov. 21st, and Dec. 16th, and are the principal fairs in Leitrim for cattle. An enclosed market-place, with considerable accommodation, was erected by Mr. St. George, who is the owner in fee of the site of the town, but it is not much frequented. Great facilities

for trade are afforded by the Shannon, which has lately been rendered navigable up to Lough Allen, by which this town is placed on one of the most important lines of communication in the island. A constabulary police force has been stationed here; and there are infantry barracks, which are unoccupied, although this is the only military station in the county.

This place was incorporated by Jas. I., in 1613, under the title of "The Provost, Free Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Carrigdrumruske ;" and the corporation was composed of a provost, 12 free burgesses, and an indefinite number of freemen. The provost was elected on the 24th of June by the provost and burgesses, and was sworn in on the 29th of September. The free burgesses were elected by the provost and burgesses; no freemen have existed for a very long period, and the only officer appointed by the corporation was the weighmaster, who receives a compensation under the butter act, 10th of Geo. IV., c. 41. The borough sent two members to the Irish parliament, elected under the charter by the provost and free burgesses. On the abolition of its franchise, at the time of the Union, the £15,000 awarded as compensation was given to the Earl of Leitrim. No provost has been elected since 1826, and the corporation is virtually extinct. Under the charter a court of record was established, but it has not been held for many years; and there is no manor court within the borough, but a petty session is held every alternate Monday. This town being the capital of the county of Leitrim, the assizes are held here, as also the quarter sessions for the southern division of the county in January and July. The county court-house, bridewell, and gaol are situated in the town ; the gaol is built in a polygonal form, having 10 wards with separate sleeping-cells for each prisoner, and a good tread-mill : the prisoners are taught reading and writing by the master and matron. The parish church of Kiltoghart, which, prior to 1698, was at a distance, was removed in that year by act of parliament into the town, and was erected on a plot of ground given by Sir George St. George, Bart.: it was rebuilt in 1829, by a loan of £2000 from the late Board of First Fruits, and is a handsome structure with a spire and a clock, which was given by C. Manners St. George, Esq. : this gentleman also presented, in 1837, a fine painting of the Nativity, by Plagemann. The R. C. chapel occupies a site given, with a plot of ground in the rear, in 1807, by Mr. St. George, who expended a considerable sum in finishing the interior, and built a gallery at his own expense. There are also places of worship for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, and parochial schools. The county infirmary situated here is a good building, erected in 1800 attached to it is a dispensary. The number of infirmary patients is about 300, and of dispensary patients about 4000, annually. A loan fund has also been established, with a capital amounting to £2000.- See KILLUKEN and KILTOGHART.

DRUMSHAMBO

DRUMSHAMBO, a village, in the parish of KILTOGHART, barony and county of LEITRIM, and province of CONNAUGHT ; 6- miles (N. by E.) from Carrick-onShannon ; containing 479 inhabitants. It is situated near the southern extremity of Lough Allen, not far from the point where the Shannon emerges from it, and close to that where the new line of navigation from Battle-bridge enters it. Works for smelting and manufacturing the iron ore found in the neighbourhood were formerly carried on here, and were continued in operation till 1765. The iron-stone was chiefly collected from the eastern shore of Lough Allen, and in the beds of the streams that descend from the Shieve-anerin mountains to the lake, where small workings are also visible ; vast woods, which formerly clothed the neighbouring valleys, supplied charcoal, and limestone as a flux was quarried close to the works, which appear to have consisted only of one small square blast furnace, from which the iron was carried to the neighbouring village, where it was forged into bars. The village is a constabulary police station, and has a penny post to Car-rick-on- Shannon. Fairs are held on Feb. 15th, April 1st, May 16th, June 13th, July 18th, Aug. 16th, Oct. 6th, and Nov. 16th. The second church for the parish is in this village, and was erected by a loan of £1107. 13. from the late Board of First Fruits in 1829. It is a gothic structure ornamented with a tower and pinnacles : there are also a R. C. and a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. A loan fund has recently been established here.-See KILTOGHART.

JAMESTOWN

JAMESTOWN, a small market-town (formerly a parliamentary borough), in the parish of KILTOGHART, barony and county of LEITRIM, and province of CONNAUGHT; containing 311 inhabitants. This place, though said to have been anciently the site of a Franciscan monastery, was of very little importance prior to the settlement of Leitrim in the reign of Jas. I. In 1621 that monarch granted divers lands, containing together 200 acres of arable and pasture and 12 acres of woodland and moor, to the inhabitants, whom he incorporated under the designation of the sovereign, burgesses, and free commons of the borough and town of Jamestown, enjoining them by his charter to build a new town of that name in some convenient situation near the Shannon.In 1623, Sir Charles Coote, to whom the king in reward of his services had granted the town with several extensive landed estates in the county, surrounded the town with walls and erected a castle on the banks of the Shannon, which in 1645 was besieged and taken by the Earl of Carlingford, after a few discharges of cannon. The R. C. prelates and clergy held a meeting in the friary of this town in 1650, and nominated commissioners to treat with any foreign power to aid them in opposing the parliamentary army, which was then everywhere triumphant; the result was the inconclusive treaty with the Duke of Lorraine. In 1689, Col. Lloyd with a party of the Enniskillen forces attacked, and, after a sharp resistance, took possession of the town; but the native Irish under Gen. Sarsfield marching against it, the garrison that had been left for its defence abandoned it and retired to Sligo. The town is pleasantly situated on the navigable course of the Shannon, and contains about 48 houses ; the chief vestige of its former importance is an ancient gateway through which the mail coach road passes, and which has been castellated by the present proprietor, Francis O'Beirne, Esq., who has built a handsome residence contiguous to it. There is a large flour-mill on the Shannon, which here has a considerable fall. The market is on Saturday. By the charter of Jas. I. the corporation consisted of a sovereign, 12 burgesses, and an indefinite number of free commoners, assisted by a recorder, town-clerk, coroner, serjeants-at. mace, and inferior officers. The sovereign, who with his deputy was justice of the peace, and also coroner and clerk of the market, was annually elected by the corporation from the burgesses, by whom all vacancies in their own body were filled, all officers appointed, and the free commoners admitted solely by favour. The charter also conferred the right of sending two members to the Irish parliament, which was exercised till the Union, when the borough was disfranchised. The corporation had power to hold a court of record, with jurisdiction extending to £20; but for some time previously to the Union they exercised few of their municipal functions, except that of returning members to parliament, and since that period the body has become extinct. Towards the close of the last century, the Earl of Mountrath built a school-house here free to the poor of the neighbourhood, and endowed it with £40 per ann., but the endowment has been lost; and here is a national school, for which a handsome school-house has been built at an expense of £600 by Francis O'Beirne, Esq.; in the upper part of the building is a small establishment of lay monks. There are some slight vestiges of the ancient abbey on the banks of the Shannon, and also of the castle; and there were formerly in the town a prison and barracks, both of which have been destroyed.

KILTOGHART

KILTOGHART, a parish, in the barony and county of LEITRIM, and province of CONNAUGHT ; containing, with part of the post-town of Carrick-on-Shannon, and the villages of Drumshambo, Leitrim, and Jamestown (which are separately described), 16,434 inhabitants. It comprises 20,669 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £11,942 per annum: the land is chiefly under tillage, and there is mnch bog and mountain, also quarries of freestone and limestone. Part of the mountain Shieve-an-irin and several small lakes are in this parish, in which rise the hills of Sheemore, said to contain caves of considerable depth. The principal seats are Jamestown Lodge, the residence of F. O'Beirne, Esq. ; Port, of J. H. Peyton, Esq. ; Lismore Lodge, of the Very Rev. Dr. Slevin, V.G. ; Caldra Lodge, of G. McDermott, Esq. ; Castlecarrow, of C. R. Peyton, Esq. ; Newbrook, of F. Keon, Esq. ; and Keon brook, of J. D. Brady, Esq. At Drumhearny extensive plantations have been laid out by P. Latouche, Esq. The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ardagh, and in the patronage of the Bishop ; the tithes amount to £601. The glebe-house was erected by a gift of £100 and a loan of £1050 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1819, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £174 for its repair: the glebe comprises 200 acres. There is a church at Carrick-on-Shannon, and one in Drumshambo. In the R. C. divisions the parish forms two unions or districts, one called Kiltoghart and Gowel, which has chapels at Carrick-on-Shannon, Jamestown, and Gowel ; the other called Kiltoghart-Murhane, which has a chapel at Murhane. There are a Primitive and Wesleyan Methodist meeting-house at Carrick-on-Shannon, and a Wesleyan Methodist meeting-house at Drumshambo. There are twelve public schools, to one of which Mr. P. Latouche allows a house and three acres of land, besides subscribing £15 annually ; and to another Lord Duncannon subscribes £5. 5. About 1000 children are educated in these schools, and about 100 in three private schools. At Port are the remains of a monastery, which was converted into a castle to command the ford across the Shannon.

LEITRIM

LEITRIM, a village, in the parish of KILTOGHART, barony and county of LEITRIM, and province of CONNAUGHT, 3 miles (N. by E.) from Carrick-on-Shannon, on the eastern bank of the river Shannon ; containing 50 houses and 274 inhabitants. It is recorded that St. Mac Liegus, son of Cernac, was bishop of Lietdrumai, or Liathdromen, which was the ancient name of this place. A castle existed here in ancient times, from which, or, as some state, from the castle of Dromahaire, Dervorghal, wife of O'Rourk, Prince of Breffny, was taken by Dermod, King of Leinster, which was one of the causes of the English invasion. There are some remains of ancient buildings, which probably formed part of the castle. Fairs are held here on Jan. 22nd, Feb. 21st, March 25th, May 5th, June 16th, July 23rd, Sept. 1st, Oct. 13th, and Dec. 1st. Leitrim was formerly a place of some importance and gave name to the county.